rhe  Little  Red  Library 

No.  6 

,^i  Marx  and  Engels 

on 

^ — Revolution  in  America 

'^  By  HEINZ  NEUMAN 


nia 


CENTS 


DAILY  WORKm 

PUIIISNINO  CONMNY 


i^^.>  ^♦o 


New  Numbers — 

(jj   the 

Little  Red  Lihrary 

^\  ill  be  iaaued  in  as  rapid  succeasi' 
as  suitable  materinJ   irlJJ  nlUnr 


TITLES   NOW   READY: 

Xo.l.— TRADE  UNIONS  IN 
AMERICA,  by  Wm.  Z. 
Foster,  J.  P.  Cannon 
and  E.  R.  Browder. 

No.  2.— CLASS  STRUGGLE 
vs.  CLASS  COLLAB- 
ORATION, by  Earl  R. 
Browder. 

No.  3.— P  RINCIPLESOF 
COMMUNISM,  by 
Frederick  Engels. 
Translation     by     Max 
Bedacht. 

Xo.  4.— W  O  R  K  E  R  CORRE- 
SPONDENCE,  by 
Wm.  F.  Dunne. 

Xo.  5.— POEMS  FOR  WORK- 
ERS, Edited  by  Man- 
uel Gomez. 


IN 
PREPARATION: 


THE  DAMNED  AGITAT- 
OR and  Other  Stories,  by 
Michael  Gold. 


THE  WORLD  RULE  OF 
WALL  STREET,  hy 
Manuel  Gomez. 


o  r 


$1.00 


Twelve  copies  will  be  sent  of  any  single 
number — choice  of  numbers— op  follow- 
ing numbers  as  soon  as  off  the  press. 


Marx  and  En  gels 


on 


Revolution  in  America 

HEINZ  NEUMANN 


290 


I^TRODICTIOX 

Marx  and  Engcls  were  not  only  the  theoreticians 
huty  in  the  first  pJace,  they  were  the  leaders  of  the 
proletarian  revolution.  It  is  in  the  study  of  the 
conditions  of  the  proletarian  struggle  and  its  vic- 
tory that  they  per f rated  the  science  of  Marxism, 
the  science  of  the  proletarian  revolution. 

In  the  First  Iiitcrnational  these  men  satv  an  in- 
strument of  proletarian  struggle  and  leadership. 
Thru  their  theoretical  works  they  supplied  a  guide 
to  this  leadership.  Both  Marx  and  Engcls  equipped 
themselves  in  the  most  painstaking  fashion  with  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  conditions  in  the  vari- 
ous countries  so  that  they  might  give  authoritative 
advice  and  instruction  to  the  leaders  of  the  working 
class  movement  all  over  Europe.  Even  in  their  old 
age,  they  set  themselves  to  master  new  languages 
to  enable  them  to  draw  from  the  literature  and 
journals  of  the  respective  countries  a  knowledge  of 
their  various  conditions.  And  so  we  find  displayed 
in  their  advice  and  instruction  to  their  followers  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  subjective  and  objective 
conditions  of  the  labor  movement,  a  knowledge  that 
toould  surprise  any  native  student. 

The  body  of  this  little  booklet  is  made  up  of  ex- 
cerpts from  letters  written  by  Marx  and  Engcls 
on  conditions  in  the  United  ^States.  To  a  large  ex- 
tent these  conditions  still  prevail,  at  least  in  so  far 
as  they  deal  with  the  subjective  factors  of  the  pro- 
letarian revolution.    The  ideology  prevailing  among 


the  Anicricdn  workers  in  those  days  showed  a  much 
(/rcdfcr  resistance  to  counter-acting  jorces  than 
Mar.r  and  Engels  had  hoped.  Marx  and  Enr/els 
)n  is  judged  the  tempo  of  the  process  of  dissipation 
of  the  illusions  obsessing  the  American  tvorking 
class  hut  they  were  entirely  correct  in  their  esti- 
mation of  the  forces  and  methods  that  will  finally 
destroy  them. 

All  these  letters  and  quotations  speak  for  them- 
selves. But  a  few  words  must  he  said  as  to  their 
origin. 

The  heroic  struggle  of  the  Paris  proletariat  for 
the  Commune  in  1811  had  driven  home  to  the  ruling 
classes  of  those  days  the  reality  of  the  danger  of  a 
proletarian  revolution.  No  wonder,  then,  that,  to 
their  ever-jyresent  hatred  of  the  revolutionary  as 
pirations  of  their  icage-slaves,  they  nmo  added  a 
haunting  dread.  The  International  Workingmen's 
Association  (The  First  International)  came  in  for 
a  full  share  of  this  hatred  and  fear.  The  place  of 
the  '^Zinoviev  letters^'  of  today  was  taken  in  those 
days  hy  letters  from  that  "'arch  fiend/'  Karl  Marx. 
It  is  hut  little  known  today  that  in  the  first  tele- 
graphic reports  of  the  Chicago  conflagration  (Oc- 
toher,  1871),  it  teas  not  Mrs.  Kelly's  cow  that  caused 
it,  hut — the  International  Workingmen-s  Associa- 
tion. The  General  Council  of  that  body  was  fully 
justified  ivhen  it  sarcastically  complained  that  the 
tornado  devastating  the  West  Indies  about  the  same 
time  was  not  booked  to  its  account. 

The  defeat  of  the  Commune  brought  the  inner 
differences  of  the  International  to  a  head.  Al 
though  the  Centralists  under  the  leadership  of  Marx 


and  En  gels  defeated  the  Autonomists  hehind 
Michael  Bakunin  at  the  Congress  of  the  Interna- 
tional at  The  Hague  in  September ,  1812,  yet  it  he- 
came  clear  that  only  radical  measures  could  save  it 
from  complete  dissolution.  In  fact,  neither  Marx 
nor  Engels  had  any  hopes  that  it  would  he  saved. 
But  they  wanted  to  secure  it  an  honorable  death. 
With  the  General  Council  in  London  it  was  certain 
that  the  Blanquists  would  dominate  it.  To  estab- 
lish the  headquarters  in  any  other  European  capi- 
tal icas  impossible  under  the  existing  conditions  of 
general  reaction.  So  Marx  insisted  on  the  removal 
of  the  General  Council  to  yeio  York. 

The  center  of  the  General  Council  in  New  York 
became  its  local  leader,  F.  A.  Sorge. 

F.  A.  Sorge  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  revo- 
lution of  18j8  in  Germany.  For  some  time  there- 
after he  lived  iv  exile  in  Switzerland.  In  1851  he 
went  to  London  where  he  became  acquainted  with 
the  Communist  Club  and  with  Karl  Marx.  When 
later  he  emigrated  to  America  he  settled  in  New 
York  where,  in  1857,  he  founded  the  Communist 
Club  which  later  became  the  American  Section  of 
the  First  International.  Sorge  died  in  Hoboken,  in 
1906.  His  whole  life  he  had  devoted  to  the  revolu- 
tionary movement  of  the  proletariat  and  the  Ameri- 
can movement,  especially,  is  indebted  to  him  for  its 
first  Marxian  education. 

The  removal  of  the  General  Council  of  the  Inter- 
national to  New  York  did  not  terminate  the  leader- 
ship of  Marx  and  Engels.  Both  kept  in  close  touch 
u^ith  affairs  and  numerous  letters  full  of  advice,  in- 
structions, and  suggestions,  written  by  both  Marx 


(tnd  IJn  (/<'!. s  to  Sorfjc,  test  if  }j  to  this.  The  need  for 
<i  centralized  leadership  for  the  International  was 
always  clear  to  Marx  and  Engels.  The  basic  issue 
of  the  struggle  between  Marx  and  Bakunin  was 
whether  the  General  Council  of  the  International 
should  be  merely  a  statistical  bureau  and  general 
postoffice  for  the  exchange  of  views  of  the  various 
sections  or  whether  it  should  be  the  instrument  of 
international  leadership;  Bakunin  stood  for  the 
former  concept;  Marx  fought  fm^  the  latter. 

The  First  International  ceased  to  exist  with  the 
resignation  of  Sorge  from  its  General  Council  in 
IS7'i.  It  had  co}npleted  its  task — that  of  explaininf/ 
to  the  working  class  the  conditions  and  methods  of 
its  emancipation.  The  death  of  the  First  Interna- 
tional did  not,  however,  mean  a  death  blow  to  the 
idea  of  a  centralized  leadership  for  the  international 
morement  of  the  proletariat.  The  Communist  In- 
ternational, under  the  leadership  of  Lenin,  has  be- 
come the  realization  of  Engels^  hopes:  ''that  the  new 
International  be  not  merely  one  of  propaganda  but 
one  of  action,  built  upon  the  undisguised  and  un- 
adulterated principles  of  Marxism,  Communism.-' 
The  Communist  International  is  the  rightful  heir  of 
the  First  Internatiomil  Workingmens  Association. 

^ome  of  the  letters  quoted  in  this  booklet  wen 
addressed  to  Mrs.  Florence  Kellcy  Wischnewetsky. 
This  is  Mrs.  Florence  Kelley,  at  present  general  sec- 
retary of  the  National  Consumers'  League.  Born 
in  1859,  Mrs.  Kelley  graduated  frrmi  Cornell  Col- 
lege in  1872  and  upon  her  graduation  went  abroad 
(Old  studied  at  Zurich  and  Heidelberg.  While 
(ih)()<(d  site  visited  England  a)id  there  came  in  con- 


iavt  with  Fricdrivh  fUajtlx.  She  hccantc  interested 
in  socialism  and,  under  his  supervision,  translated 
Kngel.K  classic  work,  ''The  Conditions  of  the  Work- 
ing Classes  in  England,'-  which  was  puhlishcd  for 
the  first  time  in  English  in  New  York  in  1S8G. 
After  her  return  to  America  she  continued  to  cor- 
respond with  En  gels  regarding  Am  erica  )i  affairs. 
Before  his  death  Sorgc  was  able  to  obtain  Engels' 
letters  to  her  and  turn  them  over  together  with  his 
own  to  the  New  York  Public  Librari/,  where  theg 
fit  ill  remain  and  where  most  of  the  originals  of  the 
many  quotations  in  this  booklet  mag  be  fou)id. 
Florence  Kelley  teas  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Intercollegiate  Socialist  Society  a)id  has  been  for 
many  years  on  their  executive  committee.  In  the 
last  ten  years  or  so  her  former  close  contact  with 
the  socialist  movement  lessened  to  a  considerable 
extent. 

The  study  of  this  pamphlet  will  help  many  of 
those  active  in  the  revolutionary  labor  movement  in 
the  United  States  better  to  understand  the  prob- 
lems of  the  movement.  Comrade  Heinz  Neumann, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Communist  Party  of  Ger- 
many, performed  a  real  service  for  the  American 
proletariat  by  compiling  a)id  analyzing  this  valu- 
able material  from  the  writings  of  the  founders  of 
the  Inter)iational  Communist  movement,  Marx  and 
Engels. 

The  reader  ivho  is  familiar  with  the  recent  dis- 
cussions in  the  American  Communist  movement 
concerning  the  role  of  the  Eabor  Party  movement 
in  this  country  and  its  services  in  politically  awak- 
ening the  Americari  masses  to  elementary  forms  of 


class  consciousness  and  class  action  will  notice  the 
rcnairkahlc  appHcabiliti/  of  nianij  of  the  statements 
and  aiKihfscs  of  Mar.c  and  Kntjels  to  just  this  proh- 
Irni.  A  carrful  studij  of  this  material  will  cast  con- 
siderable liffht  (tn  th(  Labor  Parti/  question  that  is 
now  one  of  the  fundamental  problems  facing  the 
Annrican  proletariat  and  its  Part  if. 

Agitprop  Departmen t, 

WORKERS  (COMMUNIST)  PARTY 

OF  AMERICA. 


Marx  and  Engels 

on 

Revolution  in  America 

By  Heinz  Neumann. 

TN  the  imperialist  epoch  the  United  States  as- 
sumed  the  role  of  the  economically  and  poli- 
tically predominating  country  of  the  bourgeoisie 
which  England  had  played  in  the  period  of  the 
capitahsm  of  free  competition.  America  is  the 
most  powerful  mainstay  of  imperialism.  The 
European  revolution  cannot  be  successful  with- 
out the  help  of  the  masses  of  the  American  work- 
ing class. 

Leninism  always  combatted  the  theory  of  the 
Second  International,  according  to  which  the 
course  of  the  revolution  in  the  various  capitalist 
countries  was  dependent  upon  the  "stage  of  de- 
velopment of  the  forces  of  production."  Lenin 
demonstrated  theoretically  and  practically  that 
the  proletariat  is  not  first  victorious  in  those 
countries  where  the  productive  forces  are  most 
highly  developed,  but  in  those  countries  where  the 
world  system  of  imperialism  is  weakest  and  the 
revolutionary  forces  of  the  proletariat  and  of  its 
allied  peasant  masses  are  strongest. 

But  Lenin's  theory  of  the  proletarian  revolu- 
tion means  more  than  this.  In  his  polemic  against 


Trotsky's  theory  of  the  permanent  revolution, 
which  maintained  that  the  victory  of  the  proleta- 
rian dictatorship  in  Russia  was  only  possible 
"with  the  state  aid  of  the  working  class  in  the 
more  highly  developed  countries,"  Lenin  pointed 
out  repeatedly  that  the  proletariat  of  the  highly 
developed  capitalist  countries  already  become 
the  strongest  allies  of  the  victorious  proletariat  in 
the  backward  countries  even  before  the  establish- 
ment of  their  own  dictatorship.  Not  only  the 
"state  aid"  but  the  very  revolutionary  struggle  for 
the  seizure  of  power  in  the  capitalist  countries 
renders  the  consolidation  of  the  proletarian  dic- 
tatorship possible  and  the  development  of  social- 
ism in  the  existing  Soviet  Republics. 

When  applied  to  the  perspective  of  the  Europ- 
ean, especially  of  the  Central  European  and  prim- 
arily the  German  revolution,  the  Leninist  theory 
requires  the  correct  estimate  of  the  role  of  the 
American  proletariat  and  consequently  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  revolutionary  mass  Party  in  Am- 
erica as  a  decisive  factor  in  gaining  and  defending 
the  dictatorship  of  the  proletariat  in  Germany. 
The  development  of  imperialism  after  the  first 
world  war  made  America  the  metropolis  of  the 
capitalist  world.  Germany  and  a  constantly  in- 
creasing number  of  other  European  states  which 
formerly  were  amongst  the  older  and  dominant 
capitaUst  countries,  sink  to  the  level  of  economic- 
ally and  politically  backward  countries,  to  indus- 
trial colonies  of  American  finance  capital.  Al- 
though these  countries  had  already  accompUshed 
the  bourgeois  revolution  a  long  time  ago,  they 


play  a  role  with  respect  to  American  finance  capi- 
tal similar  to  that  which  Russia  played  with  re- 
gard to  West  European  capital. 

The  Dawes  regime  lends  this  development  not 
only  historical,  but  immediate  political  signifi- 
cance for  Germany.  The  German  proletariat  can 
only  then  conquer  in  its  fight  against  American 
Dawes'  rule,  if  it  be  supported  by  an  extensive 
revolutionary  mass  movement  in  America.  As 
long  as  the  rule  of  American  finance  capital  does 
not  meet  with  resistance  in  the  metropolis  itself, 
as  long  as  the  Communist  Party  of  America  re- 
mains a  small  sectarian  party,  as  long  as  the 
great  organizations  of  the  American  working 
class  remain  unchallenged  in  the  hands  of  the 
representatives  of  the  most  reactionary  labor 
aristocracy — in  short,  as  long  as  no  revolution- 
ary mass  Party  exists  in  America — the  strength 
of  the  German  bourgeoisie,  supported  by  Ameri- 
can finance  capital,  and  the  difficulties  of  the 
German  revcluticn,  are  increased  ten-fold. 

To  deny  this  fact  signifies  the  rejection  of  the 
Leninist  viewpoint  of  the  direct  support  of  the 
revolution  in  comparatively  backward  countries, 
by  the  class  struggle  of  the  proletariat  in  the  im- 
perialist metropolis.  It  signifies  renouncing  the 
revolutionary  estimate  of  the  role  of  the  Ameri- 
can proletariat  in  the  present  stage  of  the  Europ- 
ean revolution,  and  the  recognition  of  the  Trotsky- 
ist  theory  of  ''state  aid,"  which,  as  an  inseparable 
component  of  the  theory  of  the  "permanent  rev- 
olution," in  this  case  ends  in  nothing  else  but 
Kautsky's  "doctrine  of  productive  forces." 


Marx  and  Engels  clearly  realized  the  future  role 
of  America  in  the  class  strugle  of  the  proletariat. 
In  his  third  preface  to  the  "Communist  Manifesto" 
in  1883,  Engels  stated:  "The  limited  extent  of 
the  spread  of  the  proletarian  movement  at  the 
time  the  Manifesto  was  first  published  (January, 
1848),  is  best  demonstrated  by  the  last  chapter: 
'The  Attitude  of  the  Communists  of  the  Various 
Opposition  Parties.'  First  of  all,  Russia  and  the 
United  States  are  missing  in  this  chapter.  .  ." 
Engels  calls  both  countries  "the  great  reserve  of 
European  reaction."  He  recalls  the  period  "in 
which  emigration  to  the  United  States  absorbed 
the  surplus  of  the  European  proletariat."  The 
United  States,  like  Russia,  suppHed  "Europe  with 
raw  materials,  and  at  the  same  time  served  as  a 
market  for  the  sale  of  the  latter's  industrial  prod- 
ucts."   Engles  then  continues: 

"Both    functioned    thus,    in    one    way    or   another,    as 
pillars  of  the   European  social  order. 

"How  all  this  has  changed  today!  European  emi- 
gration has  rendered  possible  the  colossal  develop- 
ment of  North  American  agriculture,  Which,  through 
its  competition,  is  shaking  the  foundations  of  large  as 
well  as  small  land  ownership  in  Europe.  At  the  same 
time  it  enabled  the  United  States  to  begin  with  the  ex' 
ploitation  of  its  rich  industrial  resources  with  su^ 
energy  and  upon  such  a  scale  THAT  WITHIN  m 
SHORT  PERIOD  THE  INDUSTRIAL  MONOPOLY 
OF  WESTERN  EUROPE  MUST  BE  BROKEN.  (Em- 
phasis here,  as  well  as  in  all  following  quotations, 
mine— H.  N.) 


10 


"And  both  these  circumstances  REACT  UPON 
AMERICA  IN  A  REVOLUTIONARY  DIRECTION. 
The  small  and  medium  property  of  the  farmer  work- 
ing for  himself,  the  foundation  of  America's  whole 
political  system,  fails  more  and  more  victim  to  the 
competition  of  the  giant  farms,  while  at  the  same 
time,  is  formed  for  the  first  time  a  NUMEROUS 
PROLETARIAT  in  the  industrial  districts  together 
with  a  FABULOUS  CONCENTRATION  OF  CAPI- 
TAL." 

This  utterance  immediately  precedes  the  fam- 
ous prophecy  that  "the  Russian  revolution  will  be 
the  signal  for  a  workers'  revolution  in  the  West." 
Both  of  these  statements  fall  in  that  period  of 
Engels'  work,  in  which  he  had  already  recognized 
the  decisive  changes  characterizing  the  trans- 
formation from  the  capitalism  of  free  competition 
to  imperialism.  With  the  Paris  Commune,  the 
period  of  the  First  International  had  to  all  intents 
concluded,  although  it  continued  to  exist  formal- 
ly. Marx  and  Engels  continue  to  view  the  prob- 
lems of  the  labor  movement  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  basic  principles  of  the  International  Work- 
ing Men's  Association.  However,  at  the  same 
time,  they  seek  a  new  form  of  labor  movement 
which,  corresponding  with  the  changed  historical 
form  of  development  of  capitalism  itself,  rises 
above  the  level  of  the  past.  In  "The  Civil  War  in 
France"  and  in  the  "Letters  to  Kugelmann,"  the 
Marxian  theory  of  the  State  is  developed  to  its 
utmost  issue;  at  the  same  time  the  leading  role 
of  the  Communist  Party  in  the  struggle  of  the 
proletariat  is  definitely  expressed.    Lenin  always 

11 


refers  to  these  works  in  his  own  writings;  lie 
looked  to  them  for  guidance  upon  the  most  im- 
portant problems  of  the  proletarian  revolution. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  passages  in  the  corre- 
spondence of  Marx  and  Engels  dealing  with  the 
American  labor  movement  ought  to  come  under 
this  head.  These  letters  cover  the  historical  con- 
tent of  an  entire  generation — from  1868  to  1895. 

Leninism  is  not,  as  several  opportunists  main- 
tain, only  a  sub-division  of  Marxism.  It  is  neither 
the  Marxism  of  the  ''early  period"  nor  the  Marx- 
ism of  the  ''mature  period."  Leninism  is  the 
whole  of  Marxism  in  the  epoch  of  imperiahsm  and 
of  the  proletarian  revolution.  But  no  Chinese 
wall  separates  the  epoch  of  imperiahsm  from  the 
epoch  of  the  capitalism  of  free  competition.  Be- 
tween the  epoch  of  the  bourgeois-democratic  rev- 
olution and  the  epoch  of  the  proletarian  world 
revolution  there  lie  no  insuperable  barriers.  Be- 
tween them  there  lies  a  period  of  transition.  In 
the  ranks  of  revolutionary  Marxism  this  period 
of  transition  in  its  broadest  sense  is  embodied  in 
the  left,  revolutionary  wing  of  the  Second  Inter- 
national. In  a  narrow  sense  it  is  expressed  in  the 
work  of  Marx's  and  Engels'  concluding  years, 
which  historically  already  tower  over  the  period 
prior  to  the  Paris  Commune  and  almost  directly 
intertwine  with  the  foundations  of  Leninism. 

For  this  reason  it  is  not  admissable  to  consider 
the  statements  of  Marx  and  Engels  upon  the 
problems  of  the  American  labor  movement  as 
"quotations  from  a  bygone  period."  They  belong 
rather,   to   the   tactical   doctrines   of   Marx   and 

12 


Engels,  which  on  all  essentials  of  method  agree 
with  the  tactics  of  Lenin  and  which  in  the  main 
still  apply  today  to  the  problems  of  our  tactics. 

II.     METHOD. 

TN  his  letter  to  Sorge  dated  September  16,  1887, 
Engels  wrote  as  follows  upon  the  American 
labor  movement: 

"In  spite  of  all,  the  masses  can  only  be  set  in 
motion  in  a  way  suitable  to  the  respective  countries 
and  adapted  to  the  prevailing  conditions — and  this  is 
usually  a  roundabout  way.  But  everything  else  is  of 
minor  importance   if  only  they   are   really   aroused." 

The  method  with  which  Engels  approached  the 
problems  of  the  American  labor  movement  re- 
quired, therefore,  firstly,  the  consideration  of 
these  specific  national  characteristics  of  the 
country,  without  the  schematic  application  of  the 
"ways"  which  had  been  tested  in  other  countries, 
as  the  only  correct  ones;  and  secondly,  shifting 
the  tactical  focus  of  interest  to  the  "real  arous- 
ing" of  the  American  laboring  masses,  in  which 
connection  all  doctrinary  questions  are  of  "minor 
importance." 

In  his  letter  to  Mrs.  Wischnewetsky,  dated  Sep- 
tember 15,  1887,  Engels  remarks: 

"Fortunately  the  movement  in  America  has  now  got 
such  a  start  that  neither  George,  nor  Powderly,  nor 
the  German  intriguers  can  spoil  or  stop  It.  Only  it 
will  take  UNEXPECTED  FORMS.  The  real  movement 
always  looks  different  to  what  it  ought  to  have  done 
in  the  eyes  of  those  who  were  tools  in  preparing  it." 


13 


That  signifies,  thirdly,  that  European  experi- 
ence does  not  suffice  to  decide  a  priori  upon  rigid 
forms  of  the  American  labor  movement.  These 
forms  can  only  be  developed  in  the  course  of  Am- 
erican practice  itself.  There  is  no  recipe  for 
them.    They  will  be  "unexpected." 

In  Engels'  letter  to  Sorge  dated  April  8,  1891, 
he  writes: 

"It  proves  how  useless  is  a — theoretically  for  the 
most  part  correct — platform  if  it  is  unable  to  get  into 
contact  with  THE  ACTUAL  NEEDS  of  the  people." 

Engels  here  wants  to  demonstrate  to  the  sec- 
tarians of  the  Hyndman  group  in  England  as  well 
as  to  the  German  emigrants  of  the  ''Socialist  La- 
bor Party"  in  America,  the  necessity  of  gaining 
primarily  the  support  of  the  workers  organized 
in  the  trade  unions.  Of  importance  methodo- 
logically in  this  connection  is,  fourthly,  the  fact 
that  Engels  sets  the  actual  requirements  of  the 
labor  movement  higher  than  the  theoretical  plat- 
form. In  his  letter  dated  June  10,  1891,  he  states 
expressly  that  the  transition  from  a  sect  to  a 
mass  party  is  even  more  important  than  an  "or- 
thodox" Marxist  platform: 

"The  comical  phenomenon  is  very  significant  that 
here,  as  in  America,  those  persons  who  parade  as  or- 
thodox Marxians,  those  who  have  reduced  our  IDEAS 
OF  MOVEMENT  to  a  rigid  dogma  which  must  be 
memorized,  that  those  people  figure  here  as  well  as 
over  there  as  a  pure  sect." 

The  method,  by  means  of  which  Engels  deter- 
mined the  tactics  of  the  American  Communists, 

14 


contains  the  following  four  salient  points:  The 
point  of  origin  is  the  specific  national  peculiarities 
of  the  American  conditions.  The  principal  task 
is,  to  begin  with,  the  **real  arousing"  of  the  work- 
ers. The  forms  of  tactic  can  only  be  found 
through  the  practice  of  the  movement  itself. 
Linking  up  with  the  actual  needs  of  the  working 
class  is  of  more  importance  than  the  theoretical 
platform. 

He  sums  up  this  method  in  a  classic  form  in  his 
letter  to  Mrs.  Wischnewetsky  dated  January  27, 
1887: 

"The  movement  in  America,  just  at  this  moment,  is 
I  believe  best  seen  from  across  the  ocean.  On  the 
spot  personal  bickerings  and  local  disputes  must  ob- 
scure much  of  the  grandeur  of  it.  And  THE  ONLY 
THING  that  couid  really  delay  its  march  would  be  the 
consolidation  of  these  differences  into  established 
sects.  To  some  extent  that  will  be  unavoidable,  but 
the  less  of  it  the  better.  .  .  Our  theory  is  a  theory 
of  evolution,  not  of  dogma  to  be  learned  by  heart  and 
to  be  repeated  mechanically.  The  less  it  is  hammered 
into  the  Americans  from  the  outside  and  the  more 
they  test  it  through  their  own  experience.  .  .  the 
more  will  it  become  part  of  their  own  flesh  and  blood." 

III. 

The  Historical  Peculiarities  of  the  American 
Labor  Movement. 

TI>OTH  England  and  America  have  always  offered 

a  number  of  particularly  knotty  problems  for 

the   exponents   of   Marxism.      In    practice,    both 

15 


countries  were  characterized  by  the  absence  of  a 
revolutionary  workers'  party;  in  tlie  theoretical 
field,  they  led  Marx  and  Engels  to  utter  the  well- 
known  epigram — that  the  proletarian  revolution 
could  take  place  in  a  peaceful  manner  in  England 
and  America.  Kautsky  employed  this  phrase 
against  Lenin  in  the  polemic  about  the  dictator- 
ship of  the  proletariat.  Lenin  replied  in  his  pam- 
phlet against  Kautsky: 

"In  the  'seventies,  was  there  anything  which  made 
England  and  America  .  .  .  exceptions?  It  should 
be  a  matter  of  course  for  anyone  in  the  least  degree 
acquainted  with  the  requirements  of  science  in  the 
field  of  historical  problems  that  this  question  must  be 
raised.  Not  to  put  this  question  signifies  falsifying 
science  and  being  satisfied  with  sophistry.  If  this 
question  is  raised,  however,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
of  the  answer;  the  revolotionary  dictatorship  of  the 
proletariat  signifies  the  rule  of  force  against  the  bour- 
geois. The  necessity  of  this  rule  of  force  is,  as  Marx 
and  Engels  repeatedly  and  at  length.  ,  .  pointed 
out,  primarily  conditioned  by  the  existence  of  militar- 
ism and  of  bureaucracy.  At  a  time  when  Marx  made 
this  statement,  in  the  'seventies  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  these  institutions  did  not  exist  in  England 
and  America!  (However,  they  are  now  to  be  found 
In   England  as  well  as  in  America)." 

The  causes  of  the  late  development  of  these 
typical  phenomena  of  the  capitalist  state  in  Eng- 
land were  the  existence  of  the  industrial  monop- 
oly and  the  century-old  tradition  of  parliamen- 
tarism. In  America,  the  historical  period  of  feud- 
alism had  never  existed;  America  has  been  demo- 

15 


cratic  from  the  very  beginning  of  its  existence 
as  an  independent  state.  While  in  England  capi- 
talist monopoly  delayed  the  development  of  a 
bm-eaucratic-militaristic  state  machine,  in  Amer- 
ica the  diametrically  opposite  cause,  the  imma- 
turity of  capitalist  development,  acted  in  the  same 
direction.  Engels  was  already  able  in  the  'eight- 
ies to  state  that  on  the  one  hand  England's  indus- 
trial monopoly  had  been  shaken  to  its  founda- 
tions while  on  the  other  hand,  the  United  States 
was  changing  from  an  agrarian  country  into  an 
industrial  power.  Thus,  almost  simultaneously, 
the  harmonizing  of  the  most  developed  and  the 
least  developed  capitalist  countries  took  place, 
with  the  general  legal  line  of  development  of  the 
bourgeois  state  as  analyzed  by  Marx.  The  pre- 
mises for  the  "exception"  to  the  Marxian  theory 
of  the  state,  thus  vanished. 

In  a  similar  fashion,  but  much  more  slowly,  the 
approach  of  the  American  labor  movement  to  the 
European  type  is  in  process.  The  British  worker 
already  began  this  assimilation  to  the  proletarian 
class  struggle  of  the  continent  in  the  'nineties. 
At  that  time  Engels  established  the  fact  of  the 
development  of  a  "new  unionism."  This  new 
tendency  in  the  British  labor  movement  required 
forty  years  to  mature — its  most  recent  fruits  are 
the  radicalization  of  the  British  trade  unions 
through  the  Purcell  group.  The  class  struggle  of 
the  American  proletariat  has  had  to  travel  a  much 
more  difficult  path.  The  after-effects  of  the 
downfall  of  an  industrial  monopoly  were  easier 
to  overcome  than  the  influence  of  bourgeois  ideol- 

17 


ogy  in  America,  the  derivation  of  which  from  the 
feudal  period  is  not  evident  to  the  American  work- 
ers in  consequence  of  the  lack  of  an  American 
feudalism.  The  penetrating  eye  of  Engels  sees  in 
this  specific  characteristic  of  America's  history 
the  reason  for  American  workers'  well-known 
"contempt  for  theory,"  which  was  one  of  the 
greatest  obstacles  to  the  formation  of  a  revolu- 
tionary mass  party.  He  writes  to  Sorge  on  Sep- 
tember 16,  1886: 

"In  a  country  as  elemental  as  America,  which  has 
developed  in  a  purely  bourgeois  fashion  without  any 
feudal  past,  but  has  taken  over  from  England  a  mass 
ideology  surviving  from  the  feudal  pariod,  such 
as  English  common  law,  religion  and  sectarianism, 
and  in  which  the  necessity  of  practical  work  and  of 
the  concentration  of  capital  has  produced  a  general 
contempt  for  all  theories,  which  is  only  now  beginning 
to  disappear  in  educated  and  scientific  circles, — in 
such  a  country  the  people  must  come  to  realize  their 
own  social  interests  by  making  mistake  after  mistake. 
Nor  will  the  workers  be  spared  that;  the  confusion 
of  trade  unions,  socialists,  Knights  of  Labor,  etc.  will 
continue  for  some  time  to  come,  and  they  will  only 
learn  by  injuring  themselves.  But  the  chief  thing  is 
that  they  have  been  set  in  motion.     .     ." 

In  another  letter,  dated  February  8,  1890, 
Engels  draws  the  conclusion  that  this  "elemental 
conservative"  ideology  of  the  American  workers 
can  be  overcome  "only  through  experience,"  and 
only  through  getting  in  contact  with  the  trade 
unions: 


18 


"The  people  of  Schleswig-Holstein  and  their  des- 
cendants in  England  and  America,  cannot  be  converted 
by  preaching;  this  stiff-necked  and  conceited  crew 
must  learn  through  their  own  experience.  They  are 
doing  that  from  year  to  year,  but  they  are  elementally 
conservative — just  because  America  is  so  purely  bour- 
geois, has  absolutely  no  feudal  past,  and  is  therefore, 
proud  of  its  purely  bourgeois  organization — and  there- 
fore, will  only  be  freed  through  experience  from  old 
traditional  intellectual  rubbish.  Hence  with  trade 
unions  and  such  like,  must  be  the  beginning,  if  there  is 
to  be  a  mass  movement,  and  every  step  forward  must 
be  forced  upon  them  by  a  defeat.  But,  however,  after 
the  first  step  beyond  the  bourgeois  viewpoint  has  been 
made,  things  will  move  faster,  just  like  everything  in 
America.  .  .  and  then  the  foreign  element  in  the 
nation  will  make  its  influence  felt  by  its  greater 
mobility." 

From  the  rise  of  a  mass  movement,  therefore, 
Engels  hopes  not  only  for  the  revolutionization  of 
the  "native"  workers,  but  at  the  same  time  the 
overcoming  of  a  sectarian  spirit  and  of  doctrinair- 
ism  amongst  the  foreign-born  proletarians.  The 
shifting  of  the  center  of  gravity  to  the  native 
workers  in  the  trade  unions  is  in  no  way  intended 
to  hmit  the  historical  role  of  the  "foreign  ele- 
ment," but  to  extend  it  by  the  exploitation  of  the 
latter's  "greater  mobility"  and  by  linking  to- 
gether the  two  elements  of  the  American  working 
class. 

Engels  considered  the  antagonism  between  the 
native-born  and  the  immigrants  one  of  the  princi- 
pal obstacles  to  the  development  of  a  mass  party. 

19 


The  danger  of  this  antagonism  consists  in  the  fact 
that  it  coincides  with  the  class  antagonism  be- 
tween the  labor  aristocracy  and  the  mass  of  un- 
skilled wage  workers.  The  connection  of  the  na- 
tional with  the  social  distinctions  within  the 
working  class  is  for  him  the  most  Important 
reason  for  the  slow  development  of  the  American 
labor  movement. 

"It  appears  to  me  that  your  great  obstacle  in  Ame- 
rica is  the  privileged  position  of  the  native-born  work- 
er. Until  1848,  a  native-born,  permanent  working  class 
was  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule.  The  scattered 
beginnings  of  the  latter  in  the  East  and  in  the  cities 
could  still  hope  to  become  farmers  or  members  of  the 
bourgeoisie.  Such  a  class  has  now  developed  and  has 
organized  itself  to  a  large  degree  in  trade  unions.  But 
it  still  assumes  an  aristocratic  position,  and  leaves  (as 
it  may)  the  ordinary,  poor'y-paid  trades  to  the  immi- 
grants, of  wtiom  only  a  small  percentage  enter  the 
aristocratic  trade  unions.  These  immigrants  are,  how- 
ever, divided  into  nationalities,  which  do  not  under- 
stand one  another,  and  for  the  most  part  do  not  under- 
stand the  language  of  the  country.  And  your  bour- 
geoisie understands  even  better  than  the  Austrian 
government,  how  to  play  off  one  nationality  against 
another.  .  .  so  that,  I  believe,  there  exist  in  New 
York  differences  in  the  standard  of  living  of  the  work- 
ers such  as  are  out  of  the  question  anywhere  else.  .  ." 

In  the  same  letter  to  Schlueter,  dated  March  30, 
1892,  Engels  explains  the  rhythm  of  the  American 
labor  movement  through  the  coincidence  of  this 
national  and  social  line  of  demarcation  within  the 
proletariat: 

20 


"In  suoh  a  country  repeated  starts,  followed  by  just 
as  certain  relapses,  are  unavoidable.  The  only  differ- 
ence is  that  the  starts  grow  more  and  more  vehement, 
and  the  relapses  less  and  less  paralyzing,  and  that  on 
the  whole  things  do  go  forward.  But  I  consider  one  thing 
certain:  the  purely  bourgeois  foundation  without  any 
fraud  behind  it,  the  correspondingly  gigantic  energy 
of  development  which  manifests  itself  even  in  the  in- 
sane exaggeration  of  the  present  protective  tariff  sys- 
tem, will  some  day  bring  about  a  change,  which  will 
astonish  the  whole  world.  When  the  Americans  once 
begin,  they  will  do  so  with  an  energy  and  virulence, 
In  comparison  with  which  we  in  Europe  will  be  chil- 
dren." 

Therefore,  Engels  considers  as  of  the  greatest 
importance,  not  the  formation  of  a  purely  immi- 
grant party,  but  ''of  a  real  mass  movement 
amongst  the  English  speaking  population:" 

"For  the  first  time  there  exists  a  real  mass  move- 
ment amongst  the  English-speaking  (Engels  refers  to 
the  preparation  for  strikes  to  obtain  the  eight-hour 
day  and  to  the  enormous  growth  of  the  Order  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor  in  spring,  1886 — just  before  the 
bomb-throwing  affair  in  Chicago.  H.  N.)  It  is  un- 
avoidable that  this  at  the  beginning  moves  hesitating- 
ly, clumsily,  unclearly  and  unknowingly.  That  will 
all  be  cleared  up;  the  movement  will  and  must  de- 
velop through  its  own  mistakes.  Theoretical  ignor- 
ance is  the  characteristic  of  all  young  peoples,  but  so 
is  practical  speed  of  development. 

"Just  as  all  preaching  is  of  no  avail  in  England, 
until  the  actual  necessity  is  at  hand,  so  too  in  Amer 


21 


ica.  And  this  necessity  is  present  in  America  and  is 
being  realized.  The  entrance  of  the  masses  of  native 
workers  into  the  movement  in  America  is  for  me  one 
of  the  great  events  of  1886.  .  ."  (Letter  to  Sorge 
dated  April  29,   1886). 

In  his  correspondence  with  the  American  So- 
cialists, which  lasted  for  decades,  Engels  repeat- 
edly emphasized  that  the  German  Marxist  Social- 
ist Labor  Party  is  of  much  less  importance  than 
the  development  of  a  mass  party  of  the  native- 
born  workers,  even  if  the  latter  is  not  consciously 
Marxist.  On  the  other  hand  he  rephed  to  the  ob- 
jections which  were  already  then  raised  by  the 
German  immigrants,  to  the  effect  that  he  was 
thus  "denying  the  role  of  the  Party,"  and  was 
"showing  preference  for  the  100  per  cent  Ameri- 
cans," with  the  sentences  of  the  above-quoted 
letter;  that  amongst  the  conscious  Marxian  immi- 
grants, there  still  remains 

"A  nucleus,  which  retains  the  theoretical  insight  in- 
to the  nature  and  the  course  of  the  entire  movement, 
keeps  in  progress  the  process  of  fermentation,  and 
finally  again  comes  to  the  top." 

Engels  writes  even  more  lucidly  to  Mrs.  Wisch- 
newetsky  on  February  9,  1887: 

"As  soon  as  there  was  a  national  American  work- 
ing class  movement  independent  of  the  Germans,  my 
standpoint  was  clearly  indicated  by  the  facts  of  the 
case.  The  great  national  movement,  no  matter  what 
its  first  form,  is  the  real  starting  point  of  American 
working    class    development;     if   the    Germans    join    it 

22 


in  order  to  help  it  or  to  hasten  its  development,  in 
the  right  direction,  they  may  do  a  deal  of  good  and 
play  a  decisive  part  in  it:  if  they  stand  aloof,  they 
will  dwindle  down  into  a  dogmatic  sect,  and  will  be 
brushed  aside  as  people  who  do  not  understand  their 
own   principles." 

The  problems  of  the  mass  party  and  of  its  re- 
lation to  the  trade  unions,  is  dealt  with  by  En- 
gels  in  close  connection  with  the,  at  that  time, 
equally  acute  trade  union  problem  in  England. 
In  his  letter  to  Sorge  dated  December  7,  1889,  he 
reminds  the  American  socialists  of  the  Hyndman 
Social-Democratic  Federation  in  England — which 
should  serve  them  as  a  warning — which  was 
''Marxist,"  it  is  true,  but  which  became  a  sect  in 
consequence  of  its  fanatic  aversion  to  the  trade 
union  movement: 

"Here  it  is  demonstrated  that  a  great  nation  can- 
not have  something  hammered  into  it  in  such  a  simple 
dogmatic  and  doctrinaire  fashion,  even  if  one  has  the 
best  theory,  as  well  as  trainers  who  have  grown  up 
in  these  special  living  conditions  and  who  are  relative- 
ly better  than  those  in  the  S.  L.  P.  The  movement  is 
finally  under  way,  and,  as  I  believe,  for  good.  But  not 
directly  socialists;  and  those  persons  amongst  the 
British  who  have  best  understood  our  theory,  are  out- 
side of  it;  Hyndman,  because  he  is  an  incorrigible 
brawler,  and  Bax,  because  he  is  a  savant  without  prac- 
tical experience.  The  movement  is  first  of  all  formally 
a  trade  union   movement,   but   entirely  different  from 


the    old    trade    unions    of    the    skilltd    laborers,    of    the 
labor  aristocracy. 

"These  people  are  attacking  the  problem  in  an 
altogether  different  way,  are  leading  much  more  co- 
lossal masses  into  battle,  are  shaking  the  foundations 
of  society  much  more  profoundly,  and  are  making 
much  more  far-reaching  demands;  the  eight-hour  day, 
a  general  federation  of  all  organizations,  complete 
solidarity.  .  .  moreover,  these  people  consider  their 
demands  of  the  moment  as  only  provisional,  although 
they  themselves  do  not  yet  know  the  goal  towards 
which  they  are  striving.  But  this  vague  notion  is 
deeply  enough  embedded  in  them  to  influence  them 
to  elect  only  declared  socialists  as  their  leaders.  Just 
as  all  the  others,  they  must  learn  through  their  own 
experience,  and  through  the  consequences  of  their  own 
mistakes.  But  that  will  not  last  very  long  since  they, 
in  contradiction  to  the  old  trade  unions,  deceive  with 
scornful  laughter  any  reference  to  the  identity  of  the 
interests  of  capital  and  labor." 

Eighteen  years  prior  to  this  letter,  Karl  Marx 
wrote  in  his  letter  to  F.  Bolte,  a  member  of  the 
New  York  Provisional  Federal  Council,  the  fol- 
lowing famous  passage: 

"The  International  was  founded  in  order  to  set  the 
real  organization  of  the  working  class  for  the  strug- 
gle in  the  place  of  the  socialist  or  semi-socialist  sects: 
The  original  statutes  as  well  as  the  inaugural  address 
show  that  at  a  glance.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Interna- 
tional would  not  have  been  able  to  maintain  itself,  if 
the  course  of  history  had  not  already  destroyed  sectar- 
ianism.   The  development  of  socialist  sectarianism  has 


24 


always  been  inversely  proportional  to  that  of  the  real 
labor  movement.  As  long  as  the  sects  are  justified 
(historically),  the  working  class  is  still  not  ripe  enough 
for  an  independent  historical  movement.  As  soon  as  it 
reaches  this  maturity,  all  sects  are  essentially  reac- 
tionary. Meanwhile,  there  has  been  repeated  in  the 
history  of  the  International  what  history  proves  every- 
where. The  obsolete  endeavors  to  re-establish  and  to 
maintain  itself  within  the  newly  gained  form. 

"And  the  history  of  the  International  was  an  inces- 
sant struggle  of  the  General  Council  against  the  sects 
and  the  endeavors  of  amateurs,  who  try  to  maintain 
themselves  against  the  real  movement  of  the  working 
class  within  the  International."  (Letter  to  Bolte, 
dated  November  23,  1871.) 

As  examples  of  these  sectarian  tendencies, 
which  time  and  again  attempt  "to  re-establish 
and  to  maintain  themselves"  within  the  Interna- 
tional Working  Men's  Association,  Marx  men- 
tions the  Proudhonists  in  France,  the  Lassaleans 
in  Germany,  and  the  Bakuninists  in  Italy  and 
Spain.    He  adds  in  the  same  letter: 

"It  is  a  matter  of  course  that  the  General  Council 
does  not  support  in  America  what  it  combats  in  Europe. 
The  decisions  1,  2  and  3  and  iX  now  give  the  New  York 
Committee  the  legal  weapon  to  put  an  end  to  all 
sectarianism  and  amateur  groups,  and  in  case  of  need 
to  expel  them." 

The  decisions,  2  and  3  of  the  London  Confer- 
ence of  the  I.  W.  M.  A.,  forbid  all  sectarian  names 
of  the  sections,  branches,  etc.,  and  provide  for 
their  exclusive  designation  as  branches  or  sec- 

25 


tions  of  the  International  Working  Men's  Associa- 
tion with  the  addition  of  the  name  of  the  locality. 
Decision  IX  emphasizes  the  necessity  of  the  poh- 
tical  effectiveness  of  the  working  class,  and  de- 
clares that  the  latter's  economic  movement  and 
political  activity  are  inseparably  united. 

This  dialectic  relationship  of  the  economic  and 
the  political  aspects  of  the  labor  movement,  were 
already  at  that  time  one  of  the  chief  problems 
in  the  tactical  discussion  in  America.  In  a  post- 
script to  the  same  letter  to  Bolte,  Marx  again  de- 
fines the  inseparable  unity  of  the  economic  and 
the  political  struggle  in  one  of  those  famous  pas- 
sages, which  are  again  and  again  quoted  by  Eu- 
ropean Marxists,  but  which  today  very  few  know 
are  written  for  the  socialists  of  America,  just  like 
Marx's  criticism  of  the  sects. 

"N.  B.  to  political  movement:  the  political  move- 
ment of  the  working  class  naturally  has  as  its  goal  the 
conquest  of  political  pov/er,  and  to  that  end  is  neces- 
sary of  course,  a  previous  organization  of  the  working 
class,  developed  to  a  certain  degree,  which  arises  of 
itself  from  the  latter's  economic  struggles. 

"On  the  other  hand,  however,  every  movement  in 
which  the  working  class  as  a  class  faces  the  ruling 
classes  and  attempts  to  force  its  v/ill  upon  them  by 
pressure  from  without,  is  a  political  movement  and  in 
this  manner  there  everywhere  arises  from  the  scat- 
tered economic  movement  of  the  workers  a  political 
movement,  that  is,  a  movement  of  the  class,  in  order 
to  fight  for  its  interests  in  a  general  form,  in  a  form 
which  possesses  general,  socially  compulsory  force. 
When   these   movements  are   subordinate  to   a   certain 


26 


previous   organization,   tliey   are   just   as    much    means 
towards  the  development  of  the  latter  organization. 

"Where  the  working  class  is  not  yet  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced in  its  organization,  in  order  to  undertake  a  de- 
cisive campaign  against  the  collective  power,  i.  e.,  the 
political  power,  of  the  ruling  classes,  it  must  under 
all  circumstances  be  trained  for  this  by  Incessant 
agitation  against  the  hostile  political  attitude  of  the 
ruling  class  towards  us.  Failing,  it  remains  a  play- 
thing in  the  latter's  hands  .     .     ." 

IV. 

The  Formation  of  an   Independent  Working 
Class   Party. 

AS  early  as  July  25,  1877,  Marx  wrote  to  Engels; 

"What  do  you  think  of  the  workers  of  the  United 
States?  This  first  explosion  against  the  associated 
oligarchy  of  capital,  which  has  arisen  since  the  Civil 
War,  will  naturally  again  be  suppressed,  but  can  very 
well  form  THE  POINT  OF  ORIGIN  FOR  THE  CON- 
STITUTION OF  AN  EARNEST  WORKERS' 
PARTY.  The  policy  of  the  new  president  will  make 
the  NEGROES,  and  the  great  expropriations  of  land 
(exactly 'the  fertile  land)  in  favor  of  railways,  min- 
ing, etc.,  companies  will  make  THE  PEASANTS  OF 
THE  WEST,  who  are  already  very  dissatisfied, 
ALLIES  OF  THE  WORKERS.  So  that  a  nice 
sauce  is  being  stirred  over  there,  and  the  transfer- 
ence of  the  center  of  the  International  to  the  United 
States  may  obtain  a  very  remarkable  post  festum 
opportuneness." 


27 


Marx  thus  demanded,  in  consequence  of  the 
changes  which  had  taken  place  in  the  United 
States  since  the  Civil  War,  the  "constitution  of  an 
earnest  workers'  party."  In  this  connection  it  is 
of  great  importance  that  he  emphasized  the  spe- 
cial role  of  the  farmers  in  view  of  the  agrarian 
crisis  and  of  the  land  expropriation  In  direct  con- 
nection with  tiie  formation  of  the  mass  party  of 
the  proletariat. 

A  decade  later  Engels  touches  upon  the  same 
problem  in  his  letter  to  Sorge  dated  November  29, 
1886.  He  clearly  and  unmistakably  demands  that 
the  American  socialists  work  within  the  Knights 
of  Labor  to  arouse  the  masses.  Despite  his  desig- 
nating this  order  as  one  of  "confused  principles 
and  a  ridiculous  organization,"  he  demands  that 
the  American  Marxists  "build  up  within  this  still 
wholly  plastic  mass  a  nucleus  of  persons,"  who 
will  have  to  take  over  after  the  inevitable  split  of 
this  "Third  Party"  the  leadership  of  the  latter's 
proletarian  elements: 

"To  tell  the  truth,  the  Germans  have  not  been 
able  to  use  their  theory  as  a  lever  to  set  the  Ameri- 
can masses  in  motion.  To  a  great  extent  they  do  not 
understand  the  theory  themselves  and  treat  it  in  a 
doctrinaire  and  dogmatic  fashion  as  if  it  were  some- 
thing which  must  be  committed  to  memory,  but  which 
then  suffices  for  all  purposes  without  further  ado. 
FOR  THEM  IT  IS  A  CREDO,  NOT  A  GUIDE  FOR  AC- 
TION .  .  .  hence  the  American  masses  must  seek 
their  own  road  and  APPEAR  for  the  moment  to 
have  found  it  in  the  K.  of  L.  whose  confused  prin- 
ciples  and    ridiculous   organization    APPEAR   to   con- 

28 


form  to  their  own  confusion.  However,  a^'^ording  to 
what  I  hear,  the  K.  of  L.  are  A  REAL  POWER  in 
New  England  and  in  the  West,  and  are  becoming 
more  so  day  by  day  as  a  result  of  the  brutal  opposi- 
tion of  the  capitalists.  I  believe  that  it  is  necessary 
to  work  within  it,  TO  BUILD  UP  WITHIN  THIS 
STILL  WHOLLY  PLASTIC  MASS  A  NUCLEUS  OF 
PERSONS,  UNDERSTANDING  THE  MOVEMENT 
AND  ITS  GOALS,  AND  THUS  OF  THEMSELVES 
TAKE  OVER  THE  GUIDANCE  OF  AT  LEAST  A 
SECTION  IN  THE  COMING  UNAVOIDABLE  SPLIT 
OF  THE  PRESENT  'ORDER.'  .  .  .  The  first  great 
step,  which  is  of  primary  importance  in  every  coun- 
try first  entering  the  movement,  is  always  THE 
CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  WORKERS  AS  AN  IN- 
DEPENDENT POLITICAL  PARTY  NO  MATTER 
OF  WHAT  KIND,  SO  LONG  AS  IT  IS  ONLY  A  DIS- 
TINCT WORKERS'  PARTY  .  .  .  That  the  first  pro- 
gram of  this  Party  is  still  confused  and  extremely 
deficient,  that  it  sets  up  H.  George  as  its  leader, 
are  unavoidable  evils,  which,  however,  are  only  tem- 
porary. The  masses  must  have  the  opportunity  and 
the  time  to  develop  themselves;  and  they  only  have 
this  opportunity  as  soon  as  they  have  their  own 
movement — no  matter  in  what  form,  if  only  it  be 
their  own  movement — in  which  they  will  be  driven 
forward  by  their  own  mistakes  and  will  grow  wise 
through    Injury   to   themselves." 

Engels  compares — in  1886 — the  role  of  the 
Marxists  in  the  American  Labor  movement  with 
the  role  which  the  "Kommunistenbund"  had  to 
play  amongst  the  workers'  societies  before  1848. 
At  the  same  time,  however,  he  points  out  the  dif- 

29 


ferences  in  order  to  avoid  the  opportunist  inter- 
pretation of  any  schematic  comparison  of  the  sit- 
uation of  the  American  labor  movement  at  that 
time  with  "the  situation  in  Europe  prior  to  1848": 

"Only  that  things  will  now  move  forward  In 
America  INFINITELY  MORE  RAPIDLY;  that  the 
movement  should  have  obtained  such  success  in  the 
elections  after  only  eight  months'  existence  is  en- 
tirely unprecedented.  And  what  is  still  lacking  will 
be  supplied  by  the  bourgeois;  nowhere  in  the  whole 
world  are  they  so  brazen-faced  and  tyrannical  as 
over  there  .  .  .  Where  the  battle  is  fought  by  the 
bourgeoisie  with  such  weapons,  the  decision  arrives 
quickly  .  .  ." 

In  his  letter  to  Mrs.  Wischnewetsky  dated  De- 
cember 28,  1886,  Engels  again  emphasized  that 
the  American  Marxists  should  not  poch  pooh  the 
proletarian  "Third  Party"  from  without,  but  rev- 
olutionize it  from  within."  He  again  uses  un- 
minced  words  in  condemning  the  German  sectar- 
ians in  America  and  their  dogma  of  the  "role  of 
the  party"  w^hich  in  reality,  then  as  now,  renders 
impossible  for  the  party  to  fulfill  its  role  in  the 
proletarian  revolution  by  separating  it  from  the 
masses.  The  remarks  made  by  Engels  in  this 
passage  on  the  dialectic-materialist  conception  of 
the  role  of  theory  are  moreover  the  direct  point 
of  departure  from  which  Lenin  developed  his  doc- 
trine of  the  importance  of  theory  in  the  proleta- 
rian revolution: 

"It  is  far  more  important  that  the   movement  should 
spread,    proceed    harmoniously,     take     root     and     EM- 


30 


BRACE  as  much  as  possible  THE  WHOLE  AMERI- 
CAN PROLETARIAT,  than  that  it  should  start  and 
proceed  from  the  beginning  on  theoretically  perfectly 
correct  lines.  There  is  no  better  road  to  theoretical 
clearness  of  comprehension  than  to  learn  by  one's  own 
mistakes,  'durch  Schaden  klug  werden.'*  And  for  a 
whole  large  class,  there  is  no  other  road,  especially 
for  a  nation  so  eminently  practical  and  so  contemptu- 
ous of  theory  as  the  Americans.  THE  GREAT  THING 
IS  TO  GET  THE  WORKING  CLASS  TO  MOVE  AS  A 
CLASS;  that  once  obtained,  they  will  soon  find  the 
right  direction,  and  all  who  resist.  .  .  will  be  left 
In  the  cold  with  small  sects  of  their  own.  Therefore 
I  think  also  the  K.  of  L.  a  most  important  factor  in  the 
movement  WHICH  OUGHT  NOT  TO  BE  POOH- 
POOHED  FROM  WITHOUT  BUT  TO  BE  REVOLU- 
TIONIZED FROM  WITHIN,  and  I  consider  that  many 
of  the  Germans  then  have  made  a  grievous  mistake 
when  they  tried,  in  the  face  of  a  mighty  and  glorious 
movement  not  of  their  own  creation,  to  make  of  their 
Imported  and  not  always  understood  theory  a  kind  of 
alleinseligmachendts**  dogma  and  to  keep  aloof  from 
any  movement,  which  did  not  accept  that  dogma.  Our 
theory  is  not  a  dogma  but  the  exposition  of  a  process 
of  evolution,  and  that  process  involves  successive 
phases.  To  expect  that  the  Americans  will  start  with 
the  full  consciousness  of  the  theory  worked  out  In 
older  industrial  countries  is  to  expect  the  impossible 
What  the  Germans  ought  to  do  is  to  act  up  to  their 
own  theory — if  they  understand  It,  as  we  did   in   1845 


*  'Grow  wise  through  injury  to  oneself.' 

**  Claiming  the  monopoly  of  all  means  of  grace. 


31 


and  1848 — to  go  in  for  any  real  general  working  class 
movement.  ACCEPT  ITS  FAKTISCHEN***  START- 
ING POINT  as  such  and  work  It  gradually  up  to  the 
theoretical  level  by  pointing  out  how  every  mistake 
made,  every  reverse  suffered,  was  a  necessary  conse- 
quence of  mistaken  theoretical  orders  in  the  original 
program:  they  ought,  in  the  words  of  the  Communist 
Manifesto:  IN  DER  GEGENWART  DER  BEWEGUNG 
DIE  ZUKUNFT  DER  BEWEGUNG  REPRESENTIE- 
REN."**"  But  above  all  give  the  movement  time  to 
consolidate,  do  not  make  THE  INEVITABLE  CONFU- 
SION OF  THE  FIRST  START  worse  confounded  by 
forcing  down  people's  throats  things  which,  at  present, 
they  cannot  properly  understand  but  which  they  soon 
will  learn.  A  MILLION  OR  TWO  WORKINGMEN'S 
VOTES  NEXT  NOVEMBER  FOR  A  BONAFIDE 
WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY  IS  WORTH  INFINITELY 
MORE  AT  PRESENT  THAN  A  HUNDRED  THOU- 
SAND VOTES  FOR  A  DOCTRINALLY  PERFECT 
PLATFORM.  The  very  first  attempt — soon  to  be  made 
if  the  movement  progresses — to  consolidate  the  mov- 
ing masses  on  a  national  basis — will  bring  them  all 
face  to  face,  Georgites,  K.  of  L.,  Trade  Unionists,  and 
all;  .  .  .  then  will  be  the  time  for  them  to  criticize 
the  views  of  the  others  and  thus,  by  showing  up  the 
inconsistencies  of  the  various  standpoints,  to  bring 
them  gradually  to  understand  their  own  actual  posi- 
tion, the  postion  made  for  them  by  the  correlation  of 
capital    and    wage  labor.      But   anything  that   might  de- 


***   Actual. 

****  Communist   Manifesto:      To   represent  the  future 

of  the  movement  in  its  present. 


32 


lay  or  prevent  that  NATIONAL  CONSOLIDATION  OF 
THE  WORKINGMEN'S  PARTY —  on  no  matter  what- 
platform — I   should   consider  a  great  mistake.     .     ." 

In  another  letter  to  Mrs.  Wischnewetsky,  En- 
gels  speaks  of  the  necessity  of  first,  and  most 
important  of  all,  "gaining  the  ear  of  the  working 
class."    He  then  develops  this  idea  as  follows: 

"I  think  all  our  practice  has  shown  that  it  is  pos- 
sible to  work  along  with  the  general  movement  of  the 
working  class  AT  EVERY  ONE  OF  ITS  STAGES 
WITHOUT  GIVING  UP  OR  HIDING  OUR  OWN  DIS- 
TINCT POSITION  AND  EVEN  ORGANIZATION,  and 
I  am  afraid  that  if  the  German  Americans  choose  a  dif- 
ferent line  they  will  commit  a  great  mistake."  (Letter 
of  January  27,  1887.) 

It  should  be  noted  that  Engels  wrote  these  lines 
just  at  the  moment  of  the  disgraceful  behavior  of 
the  K.  of  L.  towards  the  Chicago  prisoners.  H. 
George  founded  at  that  time  in  New  York  a  week- 
ly in  which  he  disavowed  the  New  York  Socialists 
and  refused  to  do  anything  in  favor  of  the  an- 
archists condemned  in  Chicago.  Without  hesi- 
tating a  moment  Engels  supported  Aveling,  the 
son-in-law  of  Marx,  who  even  in  this  situation 
bitterly  fought  the  sectarian  tactics  of  the  Na- 
tional Executive  of  the  Sociahst  Labor  Party. 

The  viewpoint  of  Marx  and  Engels  in  the  ques- 
tion of  the  American  labor  party  is  thus  absolute- 
ly clear;  they  demanded  of  the  American  Marxists 
the  formation  of  a  national  working-class  party 
in  America  at  any  price,  without  regard  to  its  pro- 
gram so  long  as  the  latter  included  the   class 

33 


struggle,  but  with  the  complete  maintenance  of 
the  political  independence  and  the  organization 
of  the  Marxist  nucleus  with  the  great  mass  party. 

V. 

The  Role  of  the  Marxist  Nucleus  Within  the 
Working  Class  Party. 

AXT'E  have  already  pointed  out  that  Marx  and  En- 
gels  never  wanted  to  give  up  the  mainte- 
nance of  a  real  Marxist  party  of  the  most  class- 
conscious  and  progressive  elements  of  the  native 
and  foreign-born  in  the  working  class  within  the 
great  mass  party.  For  thirty  years,  in  their  cor- 
respondence with  the  American  Socialists,  they 
rejected  any  endeavor  to  set  up  a  mechanical  dis- 
tinction between  the  Marxist  party  and  the  labor 
party,  as  two  opposites  which  exclude  each  other. 
The  sectarians  in  the  German  S.  L.  P.,  who  ac- 
cused them  of  "liquidating  the  leading  role  of  the 
Marxist  party,"  were  criticized  unmercifully  by 
them.  More  than  that,  year  after  year  they 
pointed  out  through  the  results  of  the  progress- 
ing labor  movement  in  America  that  the  leading 
role  of  the  Marxist  party  can  be  best  realized  and 
can  only  be  realized  within  the  great  revolution- 
ary mass  party.  Only  when  the  Marxist — or  put- 
ting it  in  modern  phraseology — the  Bolshevik 
party  fulfills  this  task  within  an  extensive  prole- 
tarian mass  party — a  labor  party — can  the  his- 
torically conditioned  backwardness  of  the  Ameri- 
can movement  be  overcome  by  the  practical  ex- 
perience of  the  masses  themselves,  and  can  the 

34 


differences  and  antagonisms  within  the  working 
class  be  settled.  In  his  letter  dated  November  29, 
1886,  Engels  formulates  the  task  of  the  Marxist 
party,  "to  build  up  within  this  still  wholly  plastic 
mass  a  nucleus  of  persons  who  understand  the 
movement  and  its  goals  ''and  which  later  takes 
over  the  real  leadership  of  the  movement,  as  fol- 
lows: 

"But  just  now  it  is  doubly  necessary  for  us  to 
have  a  few  people  who  are  thoroughly  versed  In 
THEORY  and  well-tested  TACTICS  ...  for  the 
Americans  are  for  good  historical  reasons  far  behind 
in  all  theoretical  questions,  have  taken  over  no  med- 
iaeval institutions  from  Europe,  but  have  taken 
masses  of  mediaeval  tradition,  English  common 
(feudal)  law,  superstition,  spiritualism,  in  short,  all 
the  nonsense  which  did  not  directly  hurt  business  and 
which  is  now  very  useful  for  stupefying  the  masses. 
And  if  THEORETICALLY  CLEAR  FIGHTERS  are 
available,  who  can  predict  for  them  the  consequence 
of  their  own  mistakes,  who  can  make  clear  for  them 
that  every  movement,  wh-o".  does  not  incessantly  fix 
its  eye  upon  the  destruction  of  the  wage  system 
as  its  final  goal  must  go  astray  and  fail,  many  mis- 
takes can  be  avoided  and  the  process  can  be  consid- 
erably shortened."  (Letter  to  Sorge  dated  Novem- 
ber 29,  1886). 

In  the  letter  of  January  27,  1887  (quoted  be- 
fore), Engels  outlined  the  fundamental  tactical 
policy  of  the  American  Marxists:  working  along 
with  the  general  movement  of  the  working  class 
at  every  one  of  its  stages  without  giving  up  or 
hiding  their  own  political  position  and  organiza- 
tion. 

35 


In  his  letter  to  Sorge  dated  February  8,  1890, 
he  denotes  as  their  task  ''to  take  over  through 
their  superior  theoretical  insight  and  experience 
the  leading  role"  in  the  masses,  as  events  them- 
selves drive  the  American  proletariat  forward. 
And  he  adds,  in  order  to  reassure  Sorge,  who 
fears  for  the  preservation  of  the  past  results  of 
the  pure  Marxist  party: 

"You  will  then  see  that  your  wprk  of  years  has  not 
been   in   vain." 

Although  Engels  time  and  again  points  out  that 
the  working  class  can  only  learn  from  its  own  ex- 
periences, he  is  far  from  becoming  a  worshipper 
of  spontaneity.  In  the  same  letter,  he  tells  the 
American  Marxists  in  connection  with  the  suc- 
cesses of  the  miners'  movement  in  1890  in  Ger- 
many: 

"Facts  must  hammer  it  into  people's  heads  and  then 
things  move  faster,  MOST  RAPIDLY  OF  COURSE, 
WHERE  THERE  ALREADY  IS  AN  ORGANIZED 
AND  THEORETICALLY  TRAINED  SECTION  OF 
THE   PROLETARIAT.     .     ." 

Finally,  taking  up  the  specific  conditions  in 
America,  he  foresees  that  in  the  great  labor 
party,  principally  composed  of  native  workers, 
"the  foreign  element  in  the  nation  will  make  its 
influence  felt  through  its  greater  mobility."  This 
foreign  element,  however,  comprised  and  com- 
prises of  necessity  in  America  the  maiority  of  the 
pure  Marxist  party.  It  is  just  the  Communists' 
confining  themselves  to  the  ranks  of  their  own 
supporters  and  those  who  are  already  in  whole- 

36 


hearted  sympathy  with  them,  it  is  just  the  renun- 
ciation of  the  formation  of  a  mass  party  which 
leads  to  the  spontaneity  theory,  to  "Khvostism," 
to  the  hindrance  of  the  Communist  task  of  taking 
the  leadership  of  the  entire  class  in  the  revolu- 
tion. 

VI. 
The  Role  of  the  Farmers. 

TN  his  letter  of  July  25,  1877,  Marx  predicted  the 
role  of  the  farmers,  who  are  being  revolution- 
ized in  consequence  of  the  agrarian  crisis  and 
their  expropriation  through  big  business,  as  that 
of  the  allies  of  the  working  class.  He  designated 
the  revolutionization  of  the  farmers  as  well  as  the 
beginning  of  the  Negroes'  awakening  "to  favor- 
able circumstances"  for  the  "constitution  of  an 
earnest  workers'  party."  On  the  other  hand  En- 
gels  proves  in  his  letter  to  Sorge  dated  January 
6,  1892,  that  the  American  farmers  as  a  class  have 
not  the  strength  for  the  formation  of  an  indepen- 
dent political  party.  Every  endeavor  to  form  an 
independent  farmers'  party  in  America  must  of 
necessity  make  this  party  the  plaything  of  petty 
bourgeois  political  speculators  and  consequently 
an  appendage  of  the  two  capitalist  parties : 

"The  small  farmers  and  petty  bourgeoisie  will 
scarcely  ever  be  able  to  form  a  strong  party.  They 
are  composed  of  too  rapidly  changing  elements — the 
farmer  is  often  a  wandering  farmer,  who  cultivates 
two,  three  or  four  farms  in  different  states  and  terri- 
tories one  after  the  other;  immigration  and  bank- 
ruptcy promote  the  change  of  personnel   in  both;   eco- 


37 


nomic  dependence  upon  creditors  also  hinders  inde- 
pendence— but  to  make  up  for  that  they  are  excellent 
material  for  politicians,  who  speculate  with  their  dis- 
satisfaction in  order  to  sell  them  later  to  one  of  the 
big  parties." 

The  oppression  of  farmers  by  immigration  has 
meanwhile  disappeared,  but  to  compensate  for 
that,  bankruptcies  have  multiphed.  Under  any 
circumstances,  the  fact  remains  that  the  working 
farmers  in  America  can  never  defend  their  class 
interests  against  finance  capital  through  an  in- 
dependent party.  They  can  only  fight  the  bour- 
geoisie and  its  big  parties  under  the  leadership 
of  a  mass  party  of  the  American  workers,  which 
in  turn  is  led  by  a  Marxist  party. 

VII. 
The  Modern  Development  of  America. 

TX  the  third  preface  to  the  Communist  Manifesto, 
written  in  1883,  Engels  pointed  out  the  change 
in  America's  position  in  the  capitalist  w^orld. 
Marx  and  Engels  often  spoke  in  the  last  few  years 
of  their  lives  of  the  predominating  participation 
of  the  United  States  in  the  fight  for  breaking 
British  monopoly.  In  one  passage  of  his  corre- 
spondence, which  has  received  altogether  too  lit- 
tle attention,  Engels  speaks  directly  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  an  American  monopoly,  of  the  coming 
domination  of  American  capitalism  over  the 
whole  world.  In  his  letter  to  Sorge  dated  Janu- 
ary 7,  1888,  he  speaks  of  the  danger  of  the  Eu- 
ropean war  which  Bismarck  threatened  to  bring 

38 


about.  "Ten  to  fifteen  million  combatants" 
would  take  part.  "There  would  be  devastation, 
similar  to  that  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War." 

"If  the  war  would  be  fought  to  a  finish  without  in- 
ner movements,  a  state  of  exhaustion  would  result 
such  as  Europe  has  not  experienced  for  two  hundred 
years.  AMERICAN  INDUSTRY  WOULD  THEN  WIN 
ALL  ALONG  THE  LINE  AND  WOULD  SET  US  ALL 
BEFORE  THE  ALTERNATIVE:  either  a  relapse  to 
pure  agriculture  for  our  own  needs  (American  grain 
forbids  any  other  kind),  or — SOCIAL  TRANSFORM- 
ATION." 

Engels  thus  foresees  the  imperialist  World  War 
and  the  resulting  world  monopoly  of  American 
imperialism.  His  prediction  that  under  these  cir- 
cumstances Europe  would  relapse  into  pure  agri- 
culture has  not  been  literally  fulfilled.  Its  place 
has  been  taken  by  the  specifically  imperialist 
method  of  pillaging  and  subjugating  old  European 
industrial  countries  through  the  loans  and  in- 
vestments of  the  Dawes  system.  The  historical 
perspective  sketched  by  Engels,  however,  remains 
unchanged;  the  monopoly  of  American  finance 
capital  is  not  to  be  compared  with  the  former 
monopoly  of  British  industrial  capital.  It  cannot 
maintain  itself  for  a  long  period  of  time;  it  is  no 
monopoly  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word.  It  must 
break  down  in  consequence  of  the  unequal  de- 
velopment of  the  various  imperialist  powers,  of 
the  competition  of  British  finance  capital,  and 
principally  as  a  result  of  the  rebellion  of  the  work- 
ing masses  in  Europe  and  the  colonies.  In  the 
words  of  Engels,  it  sets  "us  all  before  the  alterna- 

39 


Live"  of  the  proletarian  revolution. 

Even  more  clearly  than  the  development  of 
American  imperialism  did  Engels  foresee  the  fu- 
ture course  of  the  American  labor  movement.  He 
knew  that  the  progress  of  capitalist  production 
must  unavoidably  lead  to  the  revolutionization  of 
the  American  labor  movement: 

"As  for  those  nice  Americans  who  think  their 
country  exempt  from  the  consequences  of  fully  ex- 
panded capitalist  production,  they  seem  to  live  in  bliss- 
ful ignorance  of  the  fact  that  sundry  states,  Massa- 
chusetts, New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  etc.,  have 
such  an  institution  as  a  Labor  Bureau  from  the  re- 
ports of  which  they  might  learn  something  to  the 
contrary." 

Engels  sees  the  difficulties  in  the  path  of  the  de- 
velopment of  the  revolutionary  labor  movement. 
After  the  defeat  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  move- 
ment, he  writes  to  Sorge  on  October  24,  1891,  as 
follows : 

"I  readily  believe  that  the  movement  is  again  at  a 
low  ebb.  With  you  everything  happens  with  great  ups 
and  downs.  But  each  up  wins  definite  terrain  and  thus 
one  does  go  forward.  Thus  for  instance,  the  tremen- 
dous wave  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  and  the  strike 
movement  from  1886  to  1888,  despite  all  defeats,  did 
bring  us  forward.  There  is  an  altogether  different 
spirit  in  the  masses  than  before.  The  next  time  even 
more  ground  will  be  won.  But  with  all  that,  the  stand- 
ard of  living  of  the  native  American  working  man  is 
considerably  higher  than  that  of  the  British  and  that 
alone    is   sufficient   to    allot    him    a    back   seat   for   some 


40 


i 


time  to  come;  added  to  that,  immigration,  competition, 
and  other  things.  When  the  point  is  reached,  things 
will  move  forward  over  there  with  colossal  rapidity 
and  energy,  but  until  then,  some  time  may  have  to 
elapse." 

The  chief  obstacles,  the  high  standard  of  living 
of  the  majority  of  native  workers  and  the  compe- 
tition caused  by  the  incessant  stream  of  immi- 
grants have  been  eliminated  to  a  certain  degree. 
The  World  War  brought  with  it  the  increase  of 
wages  of  all  unskilled  workers  in  America.  The 
economic  crisis  after  the  war  led  to  radical  reduc- 
tions of  wages  not  only  among  the  foreign-born, 
but  in  even  greater  degree  among  the  native 
workers.  The  competition  of  foreign  workers  has 
been  considerably  reduced  by  the  restrictions  up- 
on immigration. 

Another  obstacle,  the  diversion  of  the  workers 
from  the  class  struggles  by  the  hope  of  obtaining 
land,  has  for  the  most  part  been  removed  by  the 
disappearance  of  the  possibilities  of  free  settle- 
ment. There  exists  '*  a  generation  of  native-born 
workers  who  have  nothing  more  to  expect  from 
speculation:" 

"Land  is  the  basis  of  speculation,  and  the  American 
possibility  of  and  craze  for  speculation  is  the  chief  in- 
fluence of  the  bourgeoisie.  Only  when  we  have  a  gen- 
eration of  native-born  workers  who  have  nothing  more 
to  expect  from  speculation,  will  we  have  firm  ground 
under  our  feet  in  America."  (Letter  to  Sorge  dated 
January  6,  1892.) 

Engels   time   and   again   emphasized   that   the 
41 


revolutionization  of  the  American  labor  move- 
ment, which  he  foresaw  as  unavoidable,  would 
begin  under  tremendous  difficulties  and  would  ex- 
perience incessant  ups  and  downs,  but  would  then 
develop  *'with  colossal  rapidity  and  energy."  His 
letter  to  Schlueter  dated  March  30,  1892,  con- 
cludes with  the  sentence: 

"When  the  Americans  once  begin,  they  will  do  so 
with  an  energy  and  virulence,  in  comparison  with 
which  we  in   Europe  will   be  children." 

VIII. 

The  International  Role  of  the  American  Labor 
Movement. 

JN  his  letter  to  Mrs.  Wischnewetzky  dated  June 
3,  1886,  Engels  writes: 

".  .  .  one  thing  is  certain:  ths  American  work- 
ing class  is  moving,  and  no  mistake.  And  after  a  few 
false  starts,  they  will  get  into  the  right  track  soon 
enough.  This  appearance  of  the  Americans  upon  the 
scene  I  consider  ONE  OF  THE  GREATEST  EVENTS 
OF  THE  YEAR. 

"What  the  breakdown  of  RUSSIAN  CZARISM  would 
be  for  the  great  military  monarchs  of  Europe — THE 
SNAPPING  OF  THEIR  MAINSTAY— that  is  for  the 
bourgeoisie  of  the  whole  world  THE  BREAKING  OUT 
OF  CLASS  WAR  in  America.  For  America  after  all 
was  the  idea!  of  all  the  bourgeoisie:  a  country  rich,  vast, 
expanding  with  purely  bourgeois  institutions  unleav- 
ened by  feudal  remnants  or  monarchial  traditions  and 
without  a  permanent  and  hereditary  proletariat.     Here 


42 


every  one  could  become,  if  not  a  capitalist,  at  all  events 
an  independent  man,  producing  or  trading,  with  his 
own  means,  for  his  own  account.  And  because  there 
were  not,  as  yet,  classes  with  opposing  interests,  our — 
and  your — bourgeois  thought  that  America  stood  above 
class  antagonisms  and  struggles.  The  delusion  has 
now  broken  down,  the  last  bourgeois  Paradise  on  earth 
is  fast  changing  into  a  Purgatorio,  and  can  only  be 
prevented  from  becoming  like  Europe,  ?.n  Inferno,  by 
the  go-ahead  pace  at  which  the  development  of  the 
newly-fledged   proletariat  of  America  will  take   place." 

This  analysis  of  the  international  significance 
of  the  proletarian  class  struggle  in  America  holds 
true  even  today,  stronger  and  more  vital  than 
ever.  There  already  exists  in  America  a  ''stand- 
ing hereditary  proletariat."  The  illusion  of  the 
bourgeois  paradise  has  already  been  dissipated. 
The  outbreak  of  the  class  war  in  America,  its 
leadership  by  a  revolutionary  mass  party,  at  the 
head  of  which  the  American  Communists  will 
place  themselves,  and  the  inception  of  revolution- 
ary mass  struggles  in  America,  would  in  reality 
signify  the^  "snapping  of  the  mainstay"  of  imperi- 
alism throughout  the  world. 

THE  END. 


43 


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